Wheel truing - Help removing wobble, flat spots, etc

I have a slight wobble in my front wheel, it started after I left the bike locked through the front wheel, I assume what happened is that it was leaning away from what it was tied to and the lock was pulling on the wheel with the weight of the bike all day.

However it came to be.... I have watched several videos on the internet and read several pages and I am considering correcting the problem myself. I am unsure weather this is a good idea though, many videos make it look very straightforward, just look what direction the wobble is going in, loosen the offending spokes on that side a tiny bit and tighten the ones on the other side a tiny bit, working in tiny increments until the problem is solved.

However, other pages I have read are very very much telling me not to attempt anything like this as the wheel will explode and I will die then the world will end. I would be using a spoke wrench and an improvised truing stand made from a bicycles forks.

Could you guys offer any thoughts or dos and don't advice.

your wheel won't explode unless you put a couple of full turns on each spoke in which case it will explode ... well actually it won't

http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/truing.html

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/wheel-and-rim-truing

Have a go. It really isn't that hard. Just make sure you are paying attention to which way you are turning the nipples.

If it gets too much, LBS will probably only want £10 to £15 for truing and tensioning.

can anyone recommend the best spoke key to buy ??

want a 4 sided one i think

thanks butters. I just wanted some reashurence that this wasn't a horrid idea, I will give it a go.

Hippy that is the page I saw, it seemed very very in depth and that is what put me off as the amount of text seemed to give me the impression I was getting into something like astro physics whereas stuff like this makes it look doable if you have a good eye and a steady hand: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svMMaGMsIMw"]How
to true a wheel while its on your bike - YouTube[/ame]

can anyone recommend the best spoke key to buy ??

want a 4 sided one i think

The best spoke key is the one that fits the nipples you're using. The green / black /blue / red Park ones are fine, the circular plastic Spokey one is fine. Just get the right size.

I have the three-size metal Park one as well and it's not very nice to use, to be honest. It's fiddly because you constantly have to search for the right sized slot. Maybe ok just to tweak a few spokes but if you're building a whole wheel it gets a bit irritating.

The Spokey Pro is a quid or so more than standard but has two metal inserts stacked so load is spread over larger area of nipple when truing so less likely to gouge anodised nips.

Also an excellent addition to your keyring. If you ride horrible factory built wheels.

+1 Spokey Pro. I find the metal Park one scratches coloured spokes as well as being a bit fiddly to use.

The Spokey Pro is a quid or so more than standard but has two metal inserts stacked so load is spread over larger area of nipple when truing so less likely to gouge anodised nips.

Aye, that one, with the metal bit. I didn't even know there was an all-plastic one.

1+ on Spokey too, the mechanic use those instead of the Park Tools one.

Oh hang on, I'm not reading / looking at it properly. Right, that Pro one looks very useful for alu nipples.

I've used lots of spoke keys, and this is my favorite multi - http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/workshop-tools/tools/tools-workshop/fat-spanner-multi-spoke-key.html. I prefer using a single if I'm working on a wheel with all the same nipple sizes, but some of the frankenbikes I work on have varying sizes and a multi is essential.

Not a perfect photo, but the type of key i use+like to use on the left. They just dont make em like that anymore :/

Hi,

I'm on my first wheel build and although I can get the lateral truing part worked out, I'm really struggling with the vertical truing. I can't seem to get rid of the bad spot (see vid).
http://youtu.be/qwLIetIh8Ow

I'm doing this without a tensionmeter at the mo, but I'm wondering if it's best to loosen everything and start again WITH a tension meter.

Any thoughts gratefully received!

Ta

constant speedhumps

that doesn't look right
i've had a bit of vertical movement when building wheels but not that much

was the rim a new one ? maybe it's been pulled out of shape by a previous lacing ?
i guess try again if it does the same thing again then rim must be out
otherwise you could just tighten 8 or so consecutive spokes where the lump is and pull that section of the rim in
leaving uneven spoke tension on one part of the wheel

whats the worst that could happen

The rim was brand new, from a reliable shop. I'm considering starting over again, but was wondering how essential a tension meter was.

Thank for your tip though, will have another go.

Hey Dicki,

Thanks for the tip about the 8 spokes; I elaborated on it by loosening half the wheel's spokes opposite the section that was giving me problems, then tightening the 8 spokes as per your suggestion. Eventually I managed to get it pretty sweet, just still not sure about what the spoke tensions should be. Still, result!

http://youtu.be/WfP_LZKNrdE

is there anyone in the kingston area who could true my wheelset??

is there anyone in the kingston area who could true my wheelset??

yeah sure. i live in south fields. Drop your wheel off and I can true it within 2-3 days

Does anybody know if its possible to get a 3-4mm flat spot/bump our of a Campy Eurus G3 wheel? Its the 2 way fit version I've got with a new rim, but the local bike shop wasn't able to correct the vertical deviation.

Is the rim completely knackered, as there aren't many spokes on these things to work with?

if it's a new rim and the bike shop can't get it round, try another bike shop? 3-4mm is quite a lot, is there a low spot opposite the bump where you could reduce some spoke tension?

Sounds like a dead rim... and replacements are not cheap :-(